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When you start a family, it is not all about keeping the family members fed, dressed and satisfied throughout the day. It is also about securing their future from a financial point of view. When we are young, we tend to think that nothing can go wrong. We have enough power to work and produce the funds we need, even start over again if we have to. But things change as we advance in age and when children begin to appear in our lives. We need to start thinking about securing our future, for the moments in which we won’t be able to work anymore or have the power to start from ground 0, with the help of family investments.

But, what are family investments? Well, everything in which the family members, who have an income, chose to spend a particular amount of money, to have benefits in the future, is considered an investment. The most common means of investment for a family are saving accounts, health insurances and pensions. It is a way to store money for the future, as your funds cannot be accessed only under certain conditions and after a period. But this is the whole point of the investment, even of a family investment, to raise money and enjoy them when the times are a bit harder than they are today.

So why should people do family investments? Again, you may feel thankful for having some money set aside if you have an emergency or need something you can afford buying with your one-month paycheck. This is why saving accounts can help here. If you can put aside a certain sum of money, which can be settled by you, according to your financial status, in years, you can raise a nice sum. Usually, saving deposits that are made for longer periods, meaning that you won’t be able to access the funds only after the passing of a couple of years, have a better interest rate. Also, it is futile to say that health insurance is one of the family investments everyone should have. According to the type of health insurance you make, you can have covered everything from accidents to illness and invalidity, having your family covered even if you can’t provide for them anymore, due to your medical condition. And investing in a pension is also a great idea because at old age you will need the financial support. You may need medicines or special care, and it would also be nice to afford to see places, now that you have so much free time.

Doing family investments may not be a priority, especially when we are young, but this is not the best way of thinking. If you wish to make an investment, the perfect time is when you have the power to work and produce funds that can be invested in your future. Knowing that you worked for something and you will have some funds to enjoy later in life, almost as a prize for what you did, can be a very comforting idea.

Kiva is a p2p lending organization which came in the market with the aim of eradicating poverty from the society. This was achieved by providing small loans to mainly startup entrepreneurs in the developing countries who cannot afford to go to the bank for a loan mainly because of their inability to pay any deposit or collateral for the loan. Thus Kiva doesn’t work for the lenders who are trying to earn interest on their money but rather it focuses on helping out the potential entrepreneurs who need financial help to get started.

How kiva works:

Basically Kiva operates by collecting microloans from organizations and individuals and then it employs its field partners who then distribute the money among the deserving entrepreneurs in the developing countries.

One notable aspect about the operations of Kiva is that it also provides training and support programs to the entrepreneurs who need some sort of help. The details of the loan repayment are posted on the Kiva website and also emailed to the lenders who want to receive it.

Making loans via Kiva:

For the ease of lenders, Kiva has maintained a list of entrepreneurs who are looking for safer loans to improve their operations. Lenders can browse through the list and select the entrepreneurs they wish to give loan to. The payment can be made through PayPal or via credit card. Once the loan has been repaid the lender has the option to lend someone else from the list or even withdraw their money if they want to. The best thing about Kiva loan service is that you can contribute with as little as $25 which is not that burdensome to do. Hence in this way Kiva is alleviating poverty in the most efficient way possible; one entrepreneur at a time.

Well, the biggest plus side is that a person gets to help improve a life of a deserving person with as little a risk as $25. The impact of such a lending is multifold. Not only you work for a noble cause by lending money, but you also get to realize the importance of money and how little is required to transform an individual’s life in the most safest way possible. Your lending can help the entire community without you ever realizing the full impact of your donation. Kiva follows a simple and straightforward formula: one entrepreneur at a time, which will ultimately help eliminate the disease of poverty from the developing nations and help them grow and prosper so that they can stand on their own feet.

Although Kiva’s loan repayments are not guaranteed, they do have an impressive loan repayment rate of 98.43%.

How Kiva works – Example

Invest Containers is a company that deals with lending and leasing of quality expo containers to buyers and other freighter companies looking to transfer goods by sea. With over 8100 customers all around the world, Invest Containers has almost half a million containers out there under lease programs.

Inner workings of Invest Containers

Each container costs around $3900 US per unit.

Once you purchase the container, the container will be registered in your name and given a serial number for identification purposes. The container is then leased to traders and transporters.

You can choose between two options on your fully-insured shipping containers, regarding how you want to receive the return payments.

Option 1 : Fixed 8% on your investment annually

Option 2: Short term leasing to client with the promising potential of higher return, but rates are not fixed. Revenues will vary depending on the situation of the market.

If you own at least 4 containers, you will receive monthly payments. Otherwise, income returns will paid quarterly.

The advantages of Invest containers

All containers are insured and trackable.

All income is tax-free.

The contract contains a buy-back promise, whereby Invest Containers guarantee to buy back the containers at 100% of their original purchase price after 4 years.

Flexibility, as there are two options to choose from as explained above.

Are you interested in investing in clean renewable energy like solar? CloudSolar is a revolutionary company based in Boston USA, that aims to provide everyone with the opportunity to investment in a solar panel, maintained by CloudSolar and hosted at their solar farm, that produces money by exporting electricity to the grid.

Of the electricity produced by your solar panel and sold to electricity grid, 80% of the money is paid to you, and 20 percent is used by Cloudsolar as a management fee. All your solar panel are 100 percent insured.

There are 3 types of solar panels you can own, which are :

¼ panel : Cost $250 and has an estimated total economic output of $562

½ panel : Cost $450 and has an estimated total economic output of $1125

Full panel : Cost $750 and has an estimated total economic output of $2250

CloudSolar estimate in their FAQ that “in a 25-year period, the total economic output could be 300% of an initial contribution of $750. “ Please visit their website gocloudsolar.com for more details.

Things you should know if you intend to install the solar panel in CloudSolar’s farm(s)

Anyone from any country can purchase a solar panel, and it’s not restricted to only USA citizens. You will receive a document showing that you are the owner, as well as the rights for the solar panel. The Farms are located in North-East USA and California USA.

If you are looking for a discount online brokerage firm, then look no further than Tradeking. It is one of the most resilient trading platforms with probably the lowest stock-trade commissions, with free software (analysis software) and real time data, and an active trading community central to helping its clients manage and execute their strategies.

So for anyone new to online brokerage trading, here are some of the tradable securities that Tradeking is known for…

Stocks: Stocks are issued by joint stock companies or a corporation through an investment bank, and they can also be called “units of equity” or “ownership stock”.

Bonds: Bonds are loans issued to an organization. They can be also called debts. Investors can buy or sell debt securities.

Mutual funds: These are a collection of assets managed and pooled by multiple investors to buy stocks, bonds and other securities.

Options: This is a contract where the buyer has the right to buy or sell an asset at a specific price, on or before the specified date. The seller also has an obligation to fulfill the transaction, if and when the buyer exercises the option.

Advantages of Tradekings

1. If you are new to online brokerage, then Tradekings has an informative page that will teach you everything you should know about how to invest: Tradeking Education Page

2. For anyone wanting to start an online portfolio, TradeKing is ideal, since it has no minimum to open an account, and they charge a low fee of $4.95 per stock trade. Options trade at 65 cents with a base charge of $4.95 per trade. For more information : TradeKing Rates

Tradeking Trading Platform – Reviews

OwnBrix is a company that mainly deals in property investments and assists its clients in initiating a sequence of successful investment programs. It was inaugurated in 2009 and has offices around the world.

Workings of OwnBrix (Property investing made easy)

Registration is free, however VIP member will be able to access additional privileges. To find out more about payment options and the privileges of the VIP membership, see http://www.ownbrix.com/membership/

All of OwnBrix’s properties are split into segments called “Brix”, or in other words, property shares. The number of Brix issued is stated on the details page of each property. The cost for each Brix depends on the individual property you are investing in. You can either buy the Brix for the stated price, or place a bid for it.

There are 3 types ownership levels you can choose from:

Partial ownership

Total ownership

Or you can bid to buy out existing investors in any of the listed OwnBrix properties.

Once you make your first payment for an order, you will receive a confirmation email stating what percentage of the property you own and a certificate of ownership.
Note: The Certificate of Ownership is a legal document that is linked directly to the ownership of the property.

OwnBrix takes care of managing your property and has a professional team that monitors your investment.

As your property values grow, so will your Property Brix (share) value. Profits are distributed proportionally according to the percentage of shares owned.

Note: There are interest rates and fees for all purchases and investments.

Making an investment in any kind of a business or venture is quite risky since you never know if you are making the right decision. Contacting your local bank and other such financial institutes may help while making an investment, but is there any guarantee that you are being informed about each and every aspect of your investment? Taking this into consideration, Rabobank has recently launched a new service by the name of RaboDirect. Let’s review the service and take a closer look at the benefits that RaboDirect has to offer in order for you to make an informed decision.

What it is?
RaboDirect is an online bank that has no branches. They have 24/7 customer service online and on the phone. Because they keep administration costs to a minimum, they are able to offer interest rates well above their competitors.

Secure
When you sign up with RaboDirect, they will mail you out a Digipass which you must use to log into your account. It is synchronised with the website so that only someone who knows both your account number and password and is holding the Digipass, is able to log in to your account. Additionally, your nominated linked account which you must specify when joining, is the only account into which funds can be withdrawn.

Rabodirect Digipass

Reputation
RaboDirect have a 5 star rating and have been awarded various titles and accolades, including Online Bank of the Year (2015) and Best Term Deposit (2015). Today, Rabobank is one of the largest financial institutions in the world, with more than 1,000 branches in over 40 countries.

Affordable
RaboDirect has to be one of the most affordable services that you can find online. If you are looking for the finest quality service at a price that doesn’t break the budget, then choosing RaboDirect is certainly not going to disappoint you. It’ll enable you to relish the benefits of a perfect blend of quality and affordability.

Interest Rates
Local banks don’t often provide the most favorable interest rates. On the other hand, RaboDirect is entirely committed towards providing the highest interest rates to its customers, which lets them make the maximum amount of money out of their investment.

Online
It should go without saying that RaboDirect is certainly going to be the most convenient service that you can find in the market since it doesn’t have branches and operates entirely via internet. If you would like to consult RaboDirect before making an investment and make sure that you are making an informed decision, all you have to do is contact them via email or phone call and they’ll be able to help you out. You won’t even have to step out of your house in order to use the services provided by RaboDirect.

Indiegogo is one of the most visited crowd-funding websites around the globe. It was founded by Danae Ringelmann, Slava Rubin, and Eric Schell in 2008. Its headquarters are located in San Francisco, California. Indiegogo provides its entrepreneurs the platform to transform their dreams into reality. It helps them to build up their community first, and then it helps them to spread their idea into the world. Crowd funding is nowadays becoming very common among the entrepreneurs.

It’s a good idea to test out the popularity of your product, idea or business on a crowdfunding platform before launching it into the market. Fundraising through crowd funding is one of the most revolutionary ideas of modern times. Marketers are now looking at crowd funding as they thought about social media 15 years ago: as an amazing source of boosting their products and building their audience, with minimal time wastage.

Out of all the websites that raise funds through crowd funding, Indiegogo is one of the best and most secure websites. It is certified with SEC regulation A+. This ensures that indiegogo is acquiescent with strict rules and standards.

Indiegogo provides its visitors with a secure platform where they can easily build up their audience before presenting their idea to the market world. This platform basically enables its startups or small business holders to fund and spread the word about their ideas, and also provides its investors with maximum security insurance, and a choice of perks. When you choose to fund a campaign, you select which perk you would like, depending on your level of financial contribution. Perks range from getting a personal mention on the website, up to gadgets and experiences worth thousands of dollars.

In today’s world, beginners and smaller companies can secure their money by crowd funding, as this is regulated with SEC, which is compliant with strict rules and standards. This provides the startups as well as the investors, with the surety of their money security.

But how does this crowd funding system work?

This website allows anyone to initiate a campaign, promote it, and gather pledged funds. Once the campaign goes live, investors will be asked to join in without purchasing the securities. In this way, entrepreneurs will gather a database of potential investors for their campaign.

In this scheme, project owners are not selling their products, but it’s an idea that is quite similar to Kickstarter-lite, in which the campaign is promoted by word of mouth. It has a lot of internal significance that can be seen with an eye of a clever business man.

There are many benefits of using Indiegogo over other crowd funding websites

First of all, service charges are inexpensive. They will charge you in two ways:

All-or-nothing: It’s a fixed funding scheme in which 5% of your total raised amount is charged if you reach your goal. If you fail to reach your goal, there’s no charge and your contributers will get refunded.

Keep-it-all: It’s a flexible funding scheme in which you will be charged 5% of your total sum if your goal is met, however if you fail, you will be charged 5% of total amount raised, and you get to keep it.

The advantage of Indiegogo, is that it’s you who decide the paying scheme before starting your campaign. If you fail to attain your goal using the fixed funding scheme they will not charge a penny from you.

Another good thing about this website is that it doesn’t determine which project is worth funding. All projects are promoted on its site. It has its own logarithm called ‘Gogofactor’ to determine which projects receive the most promotion. The selection of the project, and whether it will raise funds is completely dependent on the potential supporters.

Another awesome feature of this site, is that you can integrate your campaign into Google Analytics, where you will get to see real-time traffic, as well as how much time people spend on your page.

This site doesn’t boast publicly about how many of its projects were successfully funded. But it does estimate that up until now, 28.4% of projects have been successful in reach their funding goals, including both All-or-nothing and keep-it-all campaigns. It also allows you to boost your campaign on twitter, YouTube and other personal websites.

In order to startup your campaign, you have to follow this simple procedure:

Make an appealing video for your campaign

Make a thumbnail image of your campaign that everybody will see before they click through to your whole campaign page.

Give a short description of your campaign below the thumbnail.

Customize your link by providing a custom URL.

Choose a funding scheme and inform a site advisor about the deadline. Your campaign can run no longer than 60 days.

Boost your campaign, main idea behind your campaign and the impact that your product will attain.